If you didn’t know the name Quinn Meinerz entering Senior Bowl week, you’re more than forgiven. By now, the word is very much out on one of the most surprising performers at the most important pre-NFL draft event.
One reason you might not have heard of Meinerz is that he played his college football at Wisconsin-Whitewater. Another is that he didn’t play last season.
With the cancellation of FCS football in 2020, the UWW offensive lineman named D-III All-American and his team’s MVP in 2019 was robbed of a senior season. He was forced to do whatever he could without a season to earn attention and improve as an NFL prospect — while social distancing, naturally, and, for a while anyway, do so without a gym.